Immigration

On the true construction of the Immigration Rules (HC 251) (the Rules) para 6 and therefore para 309A applied to para 352D. The interpretation plainly set out exhaustively who was to be regarded for the purpose of the Rules as an “adoptive parent” and there was nothing in either para 6 or in para 352D that indicated a contrary intention for the purpose of entry clearance applications under para 352D. That interpretation did not create a lacuna as Art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights was open to applicants in appropriate cases. There was no proper basis for saying that there could be some notion of adoption applicable to entry clearance applications under para 352D of the Rules which operated separately from and outside the meaning otherwise given to it for the other purposes of the Rules. The interpretation to be applied under para 6 of the Rules to “adoption” itself expressly brought into play, unless the contrary intention appeared, the requirements of para 309A of the Rules. Although para 352D itself made no reference to adoption, it did refer